I need some advice from the folks who have owned or raised Labs. I have a male chocolate lab – he is the greatest family dog we have ever had – but has had a persistent problem in one of his ears. What got me concerned about him was that he would shake his head many times a day (more than usual) and scratching the same ear. At that time I took him to the vet who checked him out, discharge in his ears was minimal to none and there was no “black gunk”, so we got his shots updated and no meds for the ear. Over the next several months the problem seemed to go away and then reappear. Well, this past month it got worse with him shaking his head, scratching his ears (both of them now), and black gunk in his ears which we cleaned out. Another visit to the vet and we have “Baytril Otic Solution” for his ears. The med has helped a lot but the problem persists and looks like we are headed to the vet again. Has anyone seen something similar to this before, have an idea of potential causes, know steps to take to prevent it ?

Straitshot, I don't have a lab, but I do own English Setters. The setter is notorius for ear infections that are usually the result of ear mites. When I see this, I clean the ears with peroxide, use the lotrimin foot cream in the ears and give the dog a dose of ivomec. Seems to work everytime.

My lab has the same thing. Keeping hers clean seem to be the trick. I just get that ear cleaner solution from walmart, fill her ear up, then clean it out with a cotton ball. Normally do it once a weekish. Havent had a problem since. I think the trick for me was knocking that first infection completely out.

I have a couple of Brittanies that have ear problems, my vet recommended a solution of 1/3 alcohol, 1/3 peroxide & 1/3 white vinegar. Most of the time, this fixes their ear problems, not all the time but most. If I notice they are bad, I will squirt some in there & use a q-tip (gently) to clean them a bit. If I would use the stuff once a week or so, I don't think I would ever see any ear problems, I tend to let it slide sometimes & here come the problems again.

We clean with Malacetic Otic and treat with otimax.

Below is a link you need to have your vet check out, also.

http://www.vet.utk.edu/dermvet/pseudomonas-otitis.php

Start feeding yogurt.

Thank you for the responses, I am still reading – especially the preventive practices. Charles, your link was also helpful. Several of the descriptions jumped out at me. I will discuss this with my vet. I am also going to look into the solution of 1/3 alcohol, 1/3 peroxide & 1/3 white vinegar as a maintenance program……. Still reading but thank you for the input…..

Ive got a lab/great Pyrenees cross that we have battled ear and allergy problems with for the last 5 years. She had done the exact same thing starting with scratching her ears then her hole body and then she would chew and scratch till her hair fell out, and after 9 vet visits to 2 different vets, around $1,500.00 in test to have them say everything from fleas to grass allergies we just about ran out of options. My wife decided to take her to a vet that in my opinion just looked to fancy for me and he ran several test. About $600.00 later he came back with a diagnosis of a form of yeast infection that started in her ears and when she would scratch it she would then transfer the yeast infection to the rest of her body every time she scratched herself. After a bout of several medicines from a yeast control medicine, antibiotic, and steroids she has never been better. About ounce a year we have to get her back on the meds for about 1 month and she will go the rest of the year with no problems.

Try a food change. No corn, wheat or soy.

I treat the dogs in my kennel with a solution of Boric acid, witch hazel and gentian violet every week. I got it off of a field trialer/vet from WI.

After the dogs swim I give their ears a squirt also.

Angie

X2 on changing the food. Had a dog that had problems just like you describe and it was a food allergy. Is your dog overweight at all? The only reason I ask is we had a lab that was always getting ear infections which didn't always produce black crud but he was always scratching. After several different test our vet said he could have a thyroid problem which can commonly cause ear infections and sure enough that was the problem.

That's what I was told for my dog also, as I said earlier she was having the same problems you are. Bought a pricy bag of the no wheat, corn, soy stuff and fed it to her. Then I switched back to what I had been feeding her when she was having her ear problems. With the weekly cleaning "program" I haven't had any problems on food with corn, wheat, or soy in it. Not saying it wouldn't help, but for mine it wasn't necessary to prevent the problem

As a owner of 2 white dogs I can tell you that when I switched to a grain free taste of the wild it made a huge difference in both of my dogs. No more ear issues and no more scratching/hot spots. Best investment I have made.

I did same for my chocolate as Charles said. Vet eventually suggested diet change. Worked wonders but had to clean once in a while but not near as much once we changed to vegetarian diet. Went to Dick Van Patten's all Vegetarian and it was a god-send. Not propping his dog food, but it did work.

I have been told Tuff Actin Tanactin(the athletes foot anti bacterial/fungal spray) will clear it up with a spray.

Reading through the replies – my lab is about 100lbs but I can testify there is little fat on that animal… he is sleek and he is big… and we don’t overfeed or give him a lot of scraps. Even when he was a “pup” he was easily twice the size of a female. He is amazingly smart and intuitive around other animals and people. However like some chocolates, he is not big on retrieving. If you throw a bumper or whatever, he will retrieve about three times then look at you like it’s your turn to get the stick. He points beautifully; steady like a rock – but it’s instinctive he wasn’t trained for it. He is a wonderful part of our family. (shameless bragging) We feed him IAMS as his regular diet.

So now we are medicating and cleaning his ears once in the morning and once at night. He is doing better but I think I might change his diet and will start a maintenance program on his ears when he has completed the meds.

I have Springers
With their big floppy ears and all the hair ear infections used to be a problem, especially after swimming.
A few years back a friend turned me on to something called Blue Power. Sounds kinda goofy but it only has 3 ingredients and you can usually get all of it at Wal-Mart. I use a big water bottle with a squirt tip to mix it in. I use it on all my dogs once a month and after swimming and have never had any ear issues. This stuff is cheap and easy to use. But it is messy and it will stain so use outside and wear gloves




itsfortheanimals.com/Adobe/Blue%20Power%20Ear%20Treatment.pdf

Note.

Had the same problem with my 2 labs years ago. Tried everything. Went to a vet that told me to use Revolution (google it) and apply it monthly between shoulder blades. . Helps with ticks, fleas, heartworms and roundworms. It also cured a yeast infection in there ears they had from being in the water all the time. Also cured my wife's cats from ear mites that caused a discharge and scratching. That was 12 years ago and just applied 4 doses on dogs and 5 cats today. Good stuff. You want have a problem anymore.

The GM grains cause yeast infections at a higher rate than ever! Lab ears can be very susceptible to infections cause by yeast and ear mites. I have had some that rarely had an issue,and others that required constant cleaning to remain free if issues. I DO NOT feed corn,wheat, or soy! Yes I do use a feed that has some rice in it. We just keep an eye on my current dogs ears. Always on alert for head shaking and foul odor from the ears. Visually inspect the ears every week to look for "dirt", or redness. One thing we stumbled upon is we massage the ears down into the skull/jaw line it keeps "stuff" loose and the dog is able to shake it out per normal shaking. This also works great when we wash/rinse the ear! My dog is an athlete and I feed like an athlete. High quality food gives a much better result. Cheap junk food and overall health/performance suffers. Like us they are what they eat.

Yes the purple stuff me too

I've used Revolution for years and it does cover a lot of things. It keeps dog ticks away, but not the small deer ticks.
Yes it keeps them from getting ear mites, but does nothing for yeast. You gotta keep a dogs ears clean, and dry out after swimming.